4. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
As concept albums go, this is kind of a failure. They start off with the loose concept of the fictional band, but this gets completely lost by track 3. Yet, Sgt. Pepper remains one of the most popular and influential albums purely because of the strength of the songs. What raises it above all the psychedelic imitators that followed is the heart, humour and bite. Even at its most whimsical in Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds it isnt self-indulgent or pretentious- its just likeable and entertaining. Sgt. Peppers has two of the great uses of John Lennons humour. In With A Little Help From My Friend: What do you see when you turn out the lights?/I cant tell you but I know its mine. Always makes me chuckle. But his humour is wonderfully used in Getting Better, when Paul McCartney insists its getting better, the brilliantly dour: It cant get no worse makes that song something. This is one of those albums that inevitably ends up on Top 10 lists and such, and does it deserves its place? Well, I would argue there are stronger albums. I certainly dont feel the need to listen to it as much as the other albums on this list, which is what Im judging them by.